Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-02-25
Are They Above Criticism?

der and the well being OF society.
Such an exalted estimate of the higher
court is unwarranted by circum
stances. 1t could only be based upon
an idea of personal perfection of the
the judges that is so Utopian it can
by no possibility exist on a planet peo-
pied by ordinary mortals. To endow
the court with wisdom and virtue
that would justify any such reveren-
tial regard for their judgments, would
necessarily imply that their acts would
seldom if ever clash; that their opin-
ions on the same statement Of points
of law would invariably coincide, and
there would be unity of sentiment
and harmony in the records that
would carry conviction whenever au
thoritatively expressed.
But what does mere glance at the
records of the judiciary teach? The
great test afforded of the ability of the
highest tribunal in the land to divest
itself of partisan bias, during the men,
orable centennial year, when sitting as
an electoral commission, resulted in IA
failure so profoundly humiliating that
even those who were banefited by the
fraud hung their heads in shame. The
court of last resort subsequently be-
came shuttlecock for Wall street mill
lionaires and was made time and again
to reverse its own decision affecting the
legal tender value of currency notes,
simply by increasing the number of
judges sufficiently to obtain numeri-
cal majority of those favoring the pre-
vailing interests of the money kings.
If this fallibility of judgment is man.
ifested in such unmistakable colors at
what may be regarded as the reservoir
of legal acumen, should We be sur
prised to find the tributaries turgid,
or that they should be swayed from a
true course by those rock-bound envir-
ons erected by prejudice? Should We
marvel at an occasional eddy or swirl,
when we can SO easily detect the I'M
dercurrent of selfishness that seems to
sway each human heart? Unhappily
we have too much evidence of this
weakness of human nature, at our
doors, to enshrine the Judiciary, or ex-
empt their acts from criticism. We
have Supreme Court, composed of
four Judges, any two of whom can on
the merest technical grounds, annul
laws made by the people through their
legally constituted representatives, and
even those which have been declared
sound by the remaining two judges.
What people would quietly acquiesce
in rulings which depend upon mere
chance for vitality, affecting in
terests SO varied and important? Had
the Harlan case came up from either
of the eastern districts, incapacitating
the judge trying it on the Supreme
bench, the acts which are now erased
from the statute-book as unconstitu-
tiOnal would be affirmed as constitu-
tional, the women would be confirmed
in their right to the ballot by the
higher authority, and the thirty-five
other laws that have been so seriously
crippled by the broadside from a judi
cial blunderbuss, would now be law,
not alone by enactment but declara-
ton of soundness by Supreme author
ity.
Well may such an unfortunate ex-
ercise of power be criticised by the
press and condemned by the people.
The evil wrought is irreparable. 1t
creates doubt and distrust. 1t de-
stroys that respect for law and its Off
GERS SO essential to its execution. The
newspapers should not be blamed for
expressing the dissatisfaction of the
people, nor expected to patch up the
bad jobs of those who are literally
paid for administering the law to pro-
mote happiness and prosperity of the
people. Their exceptions in the main,
have been we'll taken, and the COM
ments remarkably free from any bias,
political or otherwise. Nor should
their competence for dealing with
questions of legal bearing be under
rated, when there are principles of
justice involved as broad as the uni
verse. If lawyers possess superior
qualifications for making laws, we GER
tainly had right to expect better
work from the last legislature, Which
made such a muddle of all law, al
though composed of many leading
legal luminaries and several ex-Judges
of the Supreme Court. An assembly
made up of unlettered representatives
could not have done worse, and one
that possessed few level-headed bust
ness men would unquestionably have
possessed sense enough to have fol-
lowed the plain requirements of the
organic law in framing their acts.
The same thing applies, in modi-
fed sense, to our courts, and we ven-
ture to say that there are many people
in the Territory who follow the plow
or WELD the hammer who could with
just as much precision follow a rule of
action to its legal result, and with not
half the tomfoolery employed by our
learned judges.
THE crew of the steamer Darn,